Rail



My 11, H924. 3;,499597 N- E. SALSICH Filed March 20. 1923 31A/vanto@ Patented llnly l, 1924i,

NEIL E. SALSICH, OF BETHLEl-IEM, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAIL.

.Application filed March 20, .1.923.

To @ZZ 107mm t may concern.'

Be it known that l' NEIL E. Sansioin a citizen of the United States, and residing at Bethlehem, Lehigh County, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rails, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to rails, particularly girder rails for electric railways, and to methods of making the saine.

In application Serial No. ML370 for patent for railroad rail, tiled, November 16, 1922 by Henry B, Bent, is disclosed and claimed a girder rail having a bar or strip of manganese steel inserted in the bottom of the groove which is of course much harder and more able to resist wear than the main portion of the rail. Rails of this class arc particularly useful when used at crossings, where it is desired that the flanges of the car wheels shall bear the weight of the car, the tread portions of the car wheels being lifted temporarily from the rail heads so that the crossing gaps in the rail heads may be passed by the wheels without the jarring and concussion which is so destructive to the rail ends at such places. The manganese steel inserts support the car wheel flanges, being raised above the true groove bottoms for this purpose, and are sutliciently hard to successfully resist the severe cutting action of the flanges. y

It is the object of the present invention to provide a rail having a hardened portion at the bottom of the rail groove which is formed 'by local heat treatment of the rail. rlhe necessity for machining operations, suoli as those necessarily involved where manganese or other steel inserts are utilized. is thereby avoided.

In' the accompanying drawing a girder rail is illustrated in section, the portion subjected to heat treatment in accordance with the present invention, `being' closely crosshatched.

From the drawing it will be seen that this heat treated portion is relatively small as compared with the body of the rail and that it lies immediately under the groove in which the wheel flanges run. The hardening of the small portion of the rail indicated may be brought about in various ways, for instance as follows:

Serial No. 626,361.

One or more Oxy-acetylene heating torches are moved longitudinally of the rail at a that the proper degree of heat is imparted to the rail. Immediately following' the torches is a pipe from which water is sprayed on the heated rail portion to quickly cool or quench the heated metal. The cooling effect is assisted by the conduction of the heat from the heated portion of the rail to the mass of unheated metal. After such treatment it is found that the granular structure of this portion of the rail has been refined for a considerable depth below the 'I0 bottom of the groove and that it has been considerably hardened.

It is obvious that instead of moving the torches and water jet longitudinally of the rail, that the heating and cooling appliances may be held stationary and the rail moved relatively thereto. It is also obvious that various heating and cooling devices may be employed to accomplish the desired results and that the invention is not limited in this respect. The method may also be utilized in locally hardening frogs and other crossing members, and in treating rails of all types.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A method of treating a rail having a flange groove which consists in heating the bottom of the groove and thereafter in immediately cooling the heated bottom.

2. A method of hardening` the bottom of the groove of a girder rail which consists in applying heat to the bottom of the groove and thereafter in cooling the heated bottom with a liquid.

3. A girder rail having a head portion provided with a wheehliange groove, the bottom of the groove being hardened and the remainder of the head portion being unhardened.

In testimony whereof I hereunto ax my signature.

NEIL E. SALSICH. 

